Gamblers galore

AT LAST and still continuing count, a couple of Indian tribes—the Quapaw and Cherokee—have contributed $1 million more to the misnamed Driving Arkansas Forward committee.

That committee would authorize an amendment to this state’s constitution that would permit four more gambling casinos in this state. As if Arkansas didn’t already have enough ways to separate the poor and desperate from what little money they have. But that’s not how Nate Steel, who’s the lawyer for these misbegotten schemes, tells the sad story. He’s already mastered the sneaky vocabulary of selling a bad idea as a good one.

To quote Counselor Steel:

“As we move toward securing a place for this issue on the Nov. 6 ballot, we have continued to raise public awareness of how expanded casino gaming will benefit the Arkansas economy.”

What that kind of balderdash should raise is alarm bells among citizens who’d like to keep Arkansas a wholesome place to settle down and raise a family. Instead this state is being turned into a high-stakes battleground between gambling interests that already have been assured their slice of the pie and these newcomers who’d like to get into the game. It’s not a pretty sight. Any more than that graven image of Baphomet, the goat god, would be on the grounds of the state Capitol.

The long and short of it, as the late great Jimmy (The Schnoz) Durante was prone to say, is that “everybody wants to get inta da act.” The good as well as the bad guys. Because the state’s Family Council Action Committee (Jerry Cox, president) is well represented in the fight too.

Good for these folks, who don’t mind standing up for the right—however lonesome it may be at times like these. Outnumbered and out-financed, they may have little hope of besting the big guys in this morality play, but they’re not about to roll over and play dead. Some of us will be cheering them on from the sidelines, knowing they have just begun to fight.